Oil well plugging device



Patented July 6, 1937 OIL WELL PLUGGING DEVICE James C. Emery, Greggton,Ten, assignor of twenty-five per cent to S. 0. Womack, Dallas, Tex., andtwenty-five per cent to W. B. Lanier,

Greggton, Tex.

Application September 26, 1935, Serial No. 42,349

Renewed December 11, 1936 2 Claims.

This invention relates to an oil well plugging device, and has for theprimary object the provision of a device of this character which willsegregate expansible plug forming materials and permit'easy and quickplacing of such materials at a desired place within a well so that whencontacted by water will expand and become set tightly against the wallsof the well forming a plug to close the well to incoming water andprevent such water from commingling with the oil in the well.

With these and other objects in view, this invention consists in certainnovel features of con.- struction, combination and arrangement of partsto be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 isa vertical sectional view showing a plug forming device for wellsconstructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the connection betweenthe lowering line and 25 the bottom releasing medium of my invention.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on theline 8-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a well with a plugformed therein in accord- 3o ance with my invention.

Figure 5 is a similar view to Figure 4 showing a modified form of plug.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral I indicates a tubularcasing having its upper end 35 cut away to form a bail or spacedconnected arms 2 apertured to act as a guide for a rod 3, one end ofwhich is in-the form of an eye 4 to which a lowering line or cable 5 isconnected. The opposite end of the bar or rod. 3 has a hook 6 con- 40nected thereto by a chain or flexible element 1.

The opposite end of the casing from the arms 2 is closed by a removablebottom 8 to which is detachably secured a rod 9 terminating between thearms 2 and to which is detachably secured an eye $5 iii to be engaged bythe hook 6. v

Mounted loosely on therod 8 are spacers ll each having a loose. fitwithfthervalls of the casing l. The spacers are in the" form of discscarrying tubular portions. Flexible'sheets of ma- 50 terial l2 engagewith the spacers ,and the walls of the casin'ga nd are each of 'cuiishape. The spacers cooperate with'the bottom 8 in dividing the casinginto several chambers for the purpose of receiving and segregatingdifferent 'kinds of 55 material employed for the forming of a plugln thewell. Certain of the chambers receive cement while another chamberreceives grain or any other vegetation. By referring to Figures 4 and 5it will be seen that the cement is indicated by the character l3 and thegrain or vegetation by the character It.

In operation the casing l containing the materials inthe chambersthereof is lowered into the well, the bottom 8 being held to the casingl by the weight of the device upon the lowering mechanism. However, whenthe bottom contacts the bottom of the well and a slight slack placed inthe lowering cable, the hook 6 may be caused to disengage from the eyeI0 so that on an upward pull of the lowering cable, the casing I may beraised leaving the materials and separators, as well as the rod 9 andbottom 8 in the well. The grain or like material I when contacted by thewell will expand and engage with the walls of the well while the cementwill become set from the water and thereby form a plug closing the wellto incoming water. Cement maybe placed above and below the material orvegetation, as shown in Figure 5, or as shown in Figure 4, thevegetation material may contact the bottom of the well while the cementrests thereon.

A plug constructed by a device as heretofore set forth will effectivelyseal a well, this being desirable when in drilling wells a vein of wateris struck to prevent the water from enteringthe well and comminglingwith the oil of the well.

Having described the invention, I claim:

1. A device of the character set forth comprising a casing, a bail atone end of saidcasing, a rod extending through said casing, a bottomcarried by said rod for closing the lower end of the casing, a barslidably'connected to said ball and detachably connected to the rod andadapted to have a hoisting cable connected thereto, and means carried bysaid rod and cooperating with the casing and the bottom in formingchambers in the casing to receive materials for the forming of a wellplug when subjected to water. i

2. A device of the character set forth comprising a casing, a bail atone end of said casing, a rod extending through said casing, a bottomcarried by said rod for closing the lower end of the casing, a barslidably connected to said ball and detachably connected to the rod andadapted to have a hoisting cable connected thereto, spacers looselymounted on said rod dividing the casing into chambers for the receptionof plug forming materials, and sheets of material carried by saidspacers contacting the walls of the casing.

JAMES C. EMERY.

